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The Extra Edge
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| Steven Raymund '78 on Getting His Start |
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Steven Raymund is CEO of Tech Data Corp, a multinational technology distributor.
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When computer mogul Steven Raymund attended the University of Oregon in the late seventies, the tech industry consisted of punch cards, electric typewriters, and adding machines, and slinging vinyl at the "Little Professor" record store on Alder was the closest he came to technological sales.
Since then, things have changed.
Computers now permeate every aspect of modern business and culture, and Raymund's company, Tech Data Corp, is a leading provider of IT products worldwide. He's parlayed his UO education into a multi-billion dollar, multinational business-this year, ranked 117th among the Fortune 500.
"I didn't really have a clear idea of my direction," says Raymund of his first years in college. He notes he "wasn't really leaning toward business" and was more interested in economics and social sciences.
Dr. Cheyney Ryan taught philosophy to Raymund in '77. "He was an excellent student &an impressive young man whose success does not surprise me," he says. Raymund remembers Ryan, and other UO professors, as both "charismatic and energetic."
He also credits Ray Mikesell, an international economics professor, for encouraging his curiosity about the world outside the United States, an interest which prompted him to study international politics at Georgetown University. After earning a graduate degree in 1980, Raymund packed his bags for Brazil. "Spanish and French were so widely spoken, I thought maybe Portuguese would give me an extra edge," he says.
Raymund's instincts were right, as Brazil now represents more than half the total Gross Domestic Product of Latin America. Sao Paulo is also home to a 33,000-square-foot distribution center for Tech Data, which earns most of its revenue from international sales.
Raymund's father, who gave Raymund his start, founded Tech Data in 1974. Shortly after Raymund began working there, "the majority of employees left en masse in a kind of palace coup," he says, taking many of their customers with them. After the company had stabilized-but during a time when the company was still struggling to make money-Raymund bought Tech Data from his father with a down payment of approximately $10,000, most of which his father had lent him.
"If he (Raymund's father) had closed it down, I would have had to go out and get a real job. God forbid," he laughs.
Though he now ranks as one of Forbes' "Most Powerful People," Raymund had little knowledge of the business world then. He says two things helped to keep him ahead: his father's good advice and a rapidly expanding market. Raymund developed a different business model for Tech Data, eventually transforming it into a wholesale-only business.
"This all coincided with a massive shift toward the PC," says Raymund. "We were able to ride the wave with a lot of other people."
By the time the dot-com market crested and dropped in October of 2000, Raymund's experience with the company had made him a shrewd businessman, able to compete in an "error-intolerant" market. In addition, an Oregon perspective has enabled him to ride the waves of change.
"My UO years helped give me a greater identity outside my professional identity," says Raymund, who believes the values he cultivated at the university have contributed to his "holistic approach" to business. "In Eugene, the values and lifestyle are very different than what you would find in Washington, New York, or Boston, where it's more about promoting yourself, advancing your career &the materialistic side of life."
Raymund's college years taught him to appreciate the outdoors, his friends, and his family. Today, he lives in Florida with his wife, Sonia, and their two children, and volunteers for All Children's Hospital, the Partnership for a Drug Free America, and Temple Beth-El.
And, when he isn't busy being chairman of the board or generating $16 billion in sales, Raymund's busy "relaxing" with the sharks of Belize. He says he got hooked on adventure travel at eighteen when he ran with the bulls in Pamplona. "I like to see the world, and I'm always interested in other cultures, languages and people," he says. "That sometimes puts me on the edge."
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1245 University of Oregon • Eugene, OR • 97403-1245
(541) 346.3950 • FAX (541) 346.3282 • alumnidev@cas.uoregon.edu
Copyright © 2003 University of Oregon
Updated May 5, 2003
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